Several construction sites throughout the nation are facing strike action from employees this Friday due to a disagreement concerning travel time compensations with contractors. This morning, pickets were established at six locations where construction is currently underway, these include the Leixlip Intel site, the Diageo site in Dublin, and the Analog plant located in Limerick.
The dissatisfaction stemmed from Unite union members – consisting largely of plumbers, fitters and welders – who are demanding the reinstatement of payments that were previously provided for a portion of their commute time to and from work. These payments, if reinstated, would account for roughly 12 percent of the workers’ total pay.
The union alleges that an agreed review of the introduction of these payments into salaries was supposed to take place after a certain duration but was never actually carried out. Tom Fitzgerald, a chief organiser at Unite, estimates that approximately 100 union members participated in picketing this morning, directly affecting 22 contractors. “We’ve seen significant support, with several workers avoiding the jobs, and some contractors have rescheduled work for today. From our standpoint, things have been going smoothly,” said Fitzgerald.
Prior to this strike, there has been no renewed interaction with the employer representative group. This strike forms part of a persistent disagreement that has previously led to work stoppages and court cases by the Mechanical and Electrical Contractors’ Association (Mebsca) members.
On August 26th, a meeting was held between the two sides, however, it ended without any agreement being reached. “We’ve targeted some sites this week, and we intend to target others next week. We anticipate this strike to continue for several weeks until dialogue is initiated and a breakthrough is achieved”, stated Fitzgerald.
Mebsca expressed its disappointment, stating that the Union’s demand for further pay increments is targeting its members, even though an agreement was signed with Unite only eight months ago, resulting in a pay increase of 12.8% for Unite members.
Members of Mebsca have an additional travel allowance, alongside their salary. A deal was struck with Unite at the Workplace Relations Commission back in 2011 that integrated the first hour of travel into the hourly wage.
Such a deal boosted the hourly wages, which consequently led to an increase in the pay rate for overtime and holidays. Currently, Unite is advocating for keeping this elevated salary rate, while attempting to repudiate the agreement that was willingly agreed upon by them previously.